


Where Moogles Be

by stand_by_me



Series: Soriku Week 2018 [3]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Adventure, Established Relationship, I might have misremembered some moogle locations, Lindblum pickles, Moogles, Multi, SoRiku Week 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 11:09:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16952883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stand_by_me/pseuds/stand_by_me
Summary: When every Mogshop mysteriously goes offline, the only clue Sora and Riku find is a letter from Stiltzkin:Sora,Mognet is gonna be offline for a while. My friends told me you can travel between the worlds, kupo. If you want to help us, Mognet Central is somewhere on Gaia (08:06:20:00:23:59). I think Artemicion did it again…





	Where Moogles Be

**Author's Note:**

> day 4 prompts: reconciliation | **travels together**
> 
> I know this is late, but the word count got away from me ;_; and the original idea for this is close enough to my heart that I wanted to do it justice.

Until today, it had never occurred to Sora that maybe, one day, the moogles would collectively close shop and leave him without a potion to stand on. Why would they, when Sora was such a regular customer and the moogles didn’t even need to physically _be_ there to sell? But now…they were just _gone._

 _Yeah, and that’s the other thing_ , Sora thought, staring at the empty space where Stiltzkin used to sell healing items and the occasional random jewel. _I get why the moogles know about other worlds, since they used to work in Traverse Town. But how is their home world advanced enough for these world-hopping holograph things?_

_Haha. ‘World-hopping holographs.’_

“He’s not anywhere else in town,” Riku said, sidling up to him without moogles, but with a basket of onion rings. Sora took one gladly, smacking Riku’s hand away when he attempted to steal it back.

“Yeah, I think they’re gone,” Sora said through the glorious, delicious crunch of the onion ring. “I’d be surprised, since this has never happened before, but…do you think maybe they’ve got moogle server maintenance or something?” _Cid’s used that term before. And we’re in Radiant Garden…Radiant Garden has some fancy computer stuff…moogles have fancy computer stuff…_

“To be honest, I’m surprised you even know what server maintenance _is_.”

“That’s not a very nice way to treat your boyfriend.”

“Sure it is, I’m letting you eat my onion rings,” Riku said, handing Sora the basket before fishing something out of his back pocket and unfolding it. “But you might actually be right. Here, take a look at this.”

Sora swapped the onion rings for the mysterious note and looked at the top line, squinting at the decidedly…duck-like scrawl. “Are you sure this was Stiltzkin? Looks more like Uncle Scrooge’s handwriting to me.” _Could a moogle even get an object from their homeworld physically here…? Wait. That’s a dumb question. I buy stuff from them all the time._

“Well yeah, Uncle Scrooge wrote it down, but these were Stiltzkin’s words. He made me pay fifty munny though, so you owe me.”

“Who made you pay, Uncle Scrooge or Stiltzkin?”

“Does it matter?”

“That’s fair,” Sora said, stealing another onion ring. “Wait, give me the letter again. I didn’t actually read it the first time.”

“You’re hopeless,” Riku said, but he handed the mysterious note back anyway.

> _Sora,_
> 
> _Mognet is gonna be offline for a while. My friends told me you can travel between the worlds, kupo. If you want to help us, Mognet Central is somewhere on Gaia (08:06:20:00:23:59). I think Artemicion did it again…_

Sora folded up the less-mysterious-than-before note and gave it back to Riku for safekeeping. “Mognet, huh? I wonder where the moogles’ homeworld – uh, Gaia, is.”

Riku facepalmed, a gesture hilariously reminiscent of Leon. “Sora. The numbers. They’re probably coordinates of some kind, right?”

“Ooohh, that’s a good point,” Sora said, crossing his arms. Donald would make fun at him for needing to resort to this, but… _darn it, I’m not a gummi ship navigator, I just fly the thing and try not to get blown up._ “We better ask Cid for help, then.”

 

―∞―●―○―≡―∞―◊―∞―≡―○―●―∞―

 

Cid, unfortunately, was not nearly as useful as expected.

“You don’t know!?” Sora asked, slouching over in despair. “Man, we’re really hosed.”

“Listen, hyperspace is all whacked up right now anyway,” Cid said, pushing his goggles up. “If these coordinates meant something before you beat those black cloaked guys, they don’t mean anything now. Stuff moved, gates closed, yada yada yada.”

Riku sighed. “What do you want to do, Sora?”

 _Right now, I just want more onion rings, but..._ “Guess we have to do this the hard way. May our hearts be our guiding keys, right? What if Artemicion is a big Heartless and we left the moogles to deal with it!?”

“You know, honestly, I think they’ll be fine,” Riku said. “Probably.”

“But _my potions._ ”

“Okay, let’s go, then,” Riku said, holding up his hands in a gesture of defeat. “You should probably tell Kairi where we’re going and why, though.”

“You’re coming?” Sora asked, incredulous.

“Sora, you have no idea where this world even _is,_ not to mention what’ll be there, or when you’ll be back, or…” Riku shook his head. “Yes, I’m coming.”

It was cute how worried Riku was, but Sora couldn’t help but be annoyed at the notion he needed a bodyguard. He’d done just fine for years exploring the worlds on his own, hadn’t he? _Oh, except for all the times Riku had to show up and save my ass. There’s a point there somewhere._ “Okay, we’ll go together.”

“Is there something wrong with that?”

“No!” Sora protested. “I just didn’t expect you to want to come, is all.”

“Well,” Cid said, “I don’t want to be part of a domestic, but if you’re really gonna go chase after a moogle, wait until after supper. Aerith would have my hide if you left without being fed and watered.”

That was fine with Sora…it gave him and Riku time to get more onion rings.

 

―∞―●―○―≡―∞―◊―∞―≡―○―●―∞―

 

 **sora:** that’s the gist of it

 **kairi:** those moogles sure are lucky

 **sora:** why?

 **kairi:** bc you’ll visit them but not me >:/

 **sora:** you’re still training!!! ;A;

 **kairi:** so are you!!!

 **sora:** ok how about we come pick you up on the way out

 **kairi:** nah. we’ll just meet you there

 **sora:**???

 **kairi:** axel’s been teaching me how to use corridors of darkness

 **kairi:** shit

 **kairi:** i meant lea

 **sora:** ok corridors of WHAT

 **kairi:** gotta go! <3

 **sora:** CORRIDORS OF WHAT NOW

 

―∞―●―○―≡―∞―◊―∞―≡―○―●―∞―

 

“Just concentrate,” Lea said, crossing his arms as Kairi stood in the middle of the field with her eyes squeezed shut. “You could try making a motion like you’re opening a door.”

“I _am_ ,” Kairi said through clenched teeth. _I didn’t think it would be this HARD._ “How’d you do it the first time!?”

“Always knew how to do it, as long as I can remember. I told you it might not work, since you’re a princess of light. You’re still a princess of heart, right?”

 _I don’t know why I wouldn’t be._ “What does that have to do with anything?” Kairi asked, opening her eyes.

Lea gave her that you’ve-still-got-a-lot-to-learn look, and Kairi glared. “Hey, hey, I’m not trying to patronize you,” Lea said. “But it’s a corridor of _darkness_ , and princesses of heart don’t have any darkness in their hearts. So, it stands to reason…”

Kairi thought something along the lines of _no darkness my ass_ , but it didn’t make the interdimensional rift or whatever the heck it was suddenly listen to her. “Ugghh! You know, Riku wouldn’t even _try_ to teach me, and now I guess I understand why. If I don’t have any darkness…”

“Giving up?” Lea asked. “It’s not a big deal, I can find the place.”

“No, there has to be a way I can do this,” Kairi said. She closed her eyes again and took a deep breath. “I’m sick of having to get picked up and escorted everywhere. This would really be useful, you know?”

“Whatever you say.”

_I guess I don’t HAVE to do this on my own but…what if, one day, those boys get in a bind and Lea isn’t around to get me there!? I don’t have a gummi ship. They might get hurt! Or worse! And…and…_

Kairi opened her eyes to a very normal-looking corridor of darkness. “Lea, did you…?”

“Nope!” he said, clapping her shoulder. “That one was all you. Dunno how you did it, though.”

“Yay!” Kairi said, clapping her hands together. It didn’t matter; now she could brag about this when they rendezvoused with Sora. “Alright, off to find the moogles.”

 

―∞―●―○―≡―∞―◊―∞―≡―○―●―∞―

 

“Sora, what the HELL ARE Y—”

“I DON’T KNOW!! Calm down!!” Sora shouted back, taking a hard left as another giant rock barreled toward the ship. “It’s near here, I can feel it!”

“Near the deadly asteroid belt!? Well, I’m glad I came along. At least we’ll die together,” Riku said sarcastically, as Sora corkscrewed the ship through a cloud of debris.

“Aww, that’s so sweeAAAAHHHH!!” A rock that looked more like it belonged to a planet than an asteroid collided nearly head-on with the ship, and Sora swerved wildly to avoid it. _Wait, are these…fragments of planets? Of worlds!?_

Riku covered his face with his hands. “Can you at least _try_ not to paint the walls with our insides!?”

“C’mon, that’s just disgusting,” Sora said. There seemed no end to the outrageously-sized asteroids / planetary fragments, and it was all Sora could do not to get them both blown to bits. _Couldn’t the moogles live somewhere EASIER!?!?_

The area of hyperspace continued to go further left on the red color spectrum (whatever that meant. Cid _claimed_ his explanations were easy to understand, but Sora begged to differ). In a flash, the crimson cut off in an explosion of blue – except with that, the asteroid bits were joined, predictably, by fleets of Heartless ships.

“I knew I should’ve tacked on those extra HP blocks,” Sora muttered to himself. _It’s not looking too good…_

“Just shut up and fly!” Riku said, both hands gripping the dash for dear life.

“Hey Riku, if we don’t get out of this…I just wanted you to know…”

“Are you serious!? Are you being serious right now.”

“Nah, I totally got this,” Sora said, right before they got blasted out of the sky by Heartless projectiles.

 

―∞―●―○―≡―∞―◊―∞―≡―○―●―∞―

 

When Riku came to, it was in a brightly-paved square in what appeared to be a sizeable city, surrounded by bricks and bits of Sora’s gummi ship. His vision was still a bit hazy, but Riku panicked at the lack of any red or plaid. _Sora!?_

“…Accident…gummi…”

 _Thank god…he’s okay._ The sound of a nearby fountain only served to remind him how thirsty he was (he really should’ve filled up his water bottle at Aerith’s, especially after the second basket of onion rings). _We’re alive…but we’re screwed_

 _You really had to go and crash the ship, didn’t you, Sora?_ Sure, he _could_ get them home with a corridor of darkness, but under no circumstances would Riku put Sora in a situation where he would be vulnerable to the darkness. Not after what happened during the Mark of Mastery exam.

“Not _again_ ,” a woman’s voice said. “We just finished rebuilding, too…”

“Hey, I’m really, really sorry about this,” Sora said from somewhere behind him. Riku craned his neck and there he was, perfectly intact except for a couple loose buttons, trying to explain why two random, strangely-dressed boys fell out of the sky and into their marketplace.

_I think I understand now why Donald is…the way he is._

“Oh, Riku, you’re awake!” Sora said, pulling Riku up by the shoulders. It didn’t exactly work, but Riku managed to find his footing before they both tumbled to the ground. _Ugh…my head hurts._ “Are you okay!?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Riku lied, but it wasn’t like his spine had snapped or anything. “This place wasn’t so lucky, though.”

“Hmph. Well, it’s not like we haven’t dealt with this before,” the woman said, brushing some debris off of her dress. “I’m Alice, and I own this item shop, or what’s left of it.”

Sora grinned. “Hey, I know another Alice, too? Wait, did you say you sell items? Healing items?”

Alice gave them an incredulous look. “Yes, of _course_ I sell items. This is Lindblum’s business district, for Falcon’s sake! But I can’t sell you anything right now with my stock under a pile of rubble.”

Their conversation was interrupted by pushing and scuffling sounds near the edge of the crowd. “EXCUSE ME, EX _CUSE_ ME, PRINCESS COMING THROUGH.” … _Oh no._

“OH YES! Thanks, Bob, I’ll make sure to tell Father that. HEY YOU! SPIKY POOPHEADS!”

Sora looked hilariously offended as the self-identified princess, who turned out to be a tiny, purple-haired girl with an interesting choice in overalls, reached their little clearing. _I kind of doubt this girl is a princess._

“Yeah, YOU. You’re both under arrest,” the girl said, hands on her hips, “by the orders of law or justice or whatever, for doing.” She gestured at the destruction. “This.”

“Aww, c’mon, it was an accident,” Sora complained, crouching down to her level. “I didn’t mean to crash the ship, I swear. We actually came to help the moogles!”

“The moogles!?” the girl repeated, jaw dropping comically. “Oh my GOD, you have to come with me right now. Him too,” she said, grabbing Sora’s hand ( _hey…_ ) before marching off back into the crowd. “I’m Eiko, by the way! PRINCESS Eiko!”

 _And I’m Princess Riku._ He shrugged and followed Eiko through the streets of… _Lindblum, Alice said. Nice name for a busy city, I guess._

 

―∞―●―○―≡―∞―◊―∞―≡―○―●―∞―

 

Kairi stepped out of the corridor of darkness and straight into a jail cell. Again.

“Well, that’s wildly inconvenient,” Lea said cheerfully, as if this wasn’t the fifth time they’d come out here. “Let’s try again, shall we?”

“This isn’t funny! It’s like the universe _wants_ me to be imprisoned all the time!” This wasn’t even a _cool_ -looking jail cell like in The Castle That Never Was, and there was no chance of Naminé bailing her out this time.

Lea’s face contorted into a gruesome version of trying-not-to-laugh _,_ and he inhaled sharply. “It’s actually pretty funny.”

Unfortunately, as Kairi closed her eyes to make another corridor of darkness, her concentration was shattered by loud clanking down the hall. She was getting _royally_ pissed off. “Hey, whoever that is, SHUT UP!”

“Stop right there! I, Captain Steiner of the Knights of Pluto, am on orders to question the two hooligans teleporting around the dungeon!”

Kairi rubbed her forehead. “Great. Awesome.”

“Hey, Captain Clanks-a-Lot!” Lea shouted back as Steiner clanked closer. “Think you could let us out?”

 _Don’t provoke him?!_ “A-absolutely not!” Steiner said, finally clanking into view in a really, _really_ rusty suit of armor. “You will address the Knights of Pluto with more respect, criminal!”

“We’re not criminals!” Kairi said.

“Yeah, we’re here by accident, I swear,” Lea added.

“Ha! As if I would believe the words of a criminal,” Steiner said, unmoving. “Now tell me how it is you have been teleporting! And why you have not teleported outside of the dungeon, to our knowledge!”

 _Because I suck at making corridors of darkness, that’s why._ But there wasn’t any sense in telling Steiner that. The most sure-fire way to forfeit bragging rights to Sora would be breaking the most important rule and running around shouting _there are other worlds! There are other worlds! Wait…this is where the moogles are from. Maybe they already know about other worlds? Still._

Steiner frowned (well, more than he already was). “Answer the question, or by the powers of the crown, I will have you both executed!”

Lea gave Kairi a look, and she nodded. This Steiner was causing them trouble…and while Sora might have attempted to talk it out, Kairi liked Lea’s style more. It wasn’t worth arguing with a brick wall (that wasn’t your friend) when you could just knock it down. _One…two…three…_

In one swift motion, Kairi slipped between the cell bars, materialized Destiny’s Embrace, and whacked Steiner’s helmet with it. It didn’t knock him over, not that Kairi expected it to, but it _did_ distract him long enough for Lea to work some keyblade magic on the cell’s lock.

“Steiner, are you okay?!!” another voice shouted from down the hall. “Vivi, now!”

“Alright, time for our exit,” Lea said, but as before he and Kairi had fully turned around to bolt, their movement was constricted by some form of Bind magic.

Within seconds, Kairi couldn’t even move her eyes, but she did a mental double-take when Vivi, _from Twilight Town,_ came into her field of view.

Following him was a girl not much older than Kairi, wearing a white blouse and an orange jumpsuit. “Alright, what is going on here!?”

“Princess!! I had the situation under control!” Steiner protested, straightening his helmet.

“I’m sure you did, Steiner,” the princess said, “but when Breireicht told me the intruders were skilled mages, I thought you might need some help. Thanks, Vivi.”

“N-no problem, Queen Garnet – I mean, Dagger,” Vivi said. _Why is he here? HOW is he here?_

The princess…Queen Garnet…Dagger…well, whoever she was, she had outplayed two keyblade wielders (wielders in training, but still) in a matter of seconds. As Garnet unfroze their mouths and began asking very pointed questions about their origins and powers, Kairi could only hope Sora and Riku were faring better.

 

―∞―●―○―≡―∞―◊―∞―≡―○―●―∞―

 

“So what kind of food do you like? What kind of girls do you like? What kind of moogles do you like?” Eiko asked, cradling her chin in her hands as she swung her legs under the table.

As reluctant as he was to believe it, Riku figured this girl had to truly be a princess, or at least another notable figure (though he wasn’t sure what else she _could_ be. She didn’t look any older than nine). This conference room was supposedly used by the ruler of Lindblum, some guy who was, confusingly, also named Cid. Except with _Regent_ appended in front of it.

“I, uh…” Sora gulped. “I like all kinds of food, mostly.”

“Not true. He’s a picky eater, he’s just too polite to say no,” Riku said, bored out of his mind. _Who’s actually in charge around here? I’m sick of having to sit here while some child hits on my boyfriend._

“And, uh…I mean, one of my best friends is a girl, Kairi, and…” Sora continued.

“Is she your girlfriend!?”

Sora grimaced as Riku froze and narrowed his eyes at the tiny offender. “Kairi’s – she’s just a friend!” Sora protested.

Eiko frowned, obviously not believing that. “ _Suuure_ she’s ‘just a friend.’ UGH!”

Another figure entered the conference room, an older, mustachioed man in a very regal set of robes. Riku recognized an authority figure when he saw one, though he wasn’t sure what to make of this one yet, and at some point he had made it a rule not to follow just _anyone._

“Regent Cid, sir!” Sora said, standing up and making a clumsy salute. Riku made no move to join him.

“Pumpkin-head, are you chasing after older boys again?” the regent asked, stroking his (admittedly impressive) mustache as he sized up Sora. “At least this one has some manners.”

“FaaAATHER! Quina casts that spell on me ONE TIME and I never hear the end of it!” Eiko pouted, crossing her arms. “And no, I didn’t _chase_ them.”

“I would argue,” Riku said, “but we weren’t running, so I don’t think it qualifies as ‘chasing.’”

Sora gave him an exasperated look and Riku smirked. _What? It’s true._ “We’re really, really sorry about the mess in the business district—”

“Don’t worry about it,” Regent Cid said, holding out an arm in what struck Riku as a very dramatic gesture of peace. “This nation has seen far worse in recent years. And what’s more, I hear you came to help with the situation at Mognet Central. Tell me everything you know, and I’ll fill you in on the rest.”

Riku glanced at Sora. _Can we trust this guy?_ That was a stupid question. This was _Sora_ , he would probably trust anyone whether it was smart to or not, and the people here obviously knew about the existence of other worlds.

As Sora regaled the (somewhat abridged) version of their trip so far, Riku watched the regent’s reactions. He simply nodded at the description of Mogshops and their need to restock on potions, adding a quip about the current exchange rate between munny and gil, then laughed at Sora’s retelling of Eiko’s antics. Riku could tell the regent had more questions for them, but he waited respectfully for Sora to finish his story.

“One thing,” the regent said when Sora was finished. “Why are you really helping us?”

Riku noted the ‘ _us_ ’ and not ‘ _the moogles._ ’ “Well, like Sora, said, we need to restock on—”

“Every item shop in Lindblum sells potions,” Regent Cid said. “You could just as easily buy from one of them and go home. I ask because Mognet Central is being attacked from the inside by some kind of monster, and the warriors my niece sent to stop it have yet to report back. It’s clearly incredibly dangerous.”

 _He’s trying to gauge our strength._ The idea of Sora having trouble against any regular monster was so ridiculous that Riku could almost laugh, except he didn’t want Sora to think he was laughing at _him_ , or worse, the situation, or…yeah, he’d hold his tongue.

“So it _is_ a Heartless!” Sora said, clasping his hands together. “Please, tell us how to reach Mognet Central! Artemicion can’t be taken down with regular weapons, but we can do it!”

“Ummmm,” Eiko said. “Artemicion is the MAILMAN, not the monster.”

“What?” Sora blinked. “Either way, we can take that monster down, I promise!”

Regent Cid appraised Sora’s answer for a moment before nodding. “Alright, I accept your help. You’ll fly to Mognet Central on my fastest new airship, the Hilda Garde 6, which includes special landing gear designed for this very purpose. How soon can you be ready to leave?”

“Sir, regent, sir!” a soldier said, bustling into the room. “I have a message from Alexandria! The queen herself is escorting the keyblade warriors here, to join in the fight at Mognet Central!”

“Keyblade wielders!?” Sora said. “Kairi and Lea made it after all!”

“Forget them, Dagger’s coming!” Eiko said, standing up. “I HAVE to go do my hair!”

Four pairs of eyes watched her skip out of the room, off to do whatever nine-year-old girls did with their hair. _Well, at least she won’t be bothering us for a while._

“It will take the Red Rose 2 several hours to get here,” Regent Cid said, stroking his mustache. “Have Loren here show you where the airship hangar is. We’ll meet there at ten o’clock to send off the battle party. Now, until then, how about I repair your own ship?”

 

―∞―●―○―≡―∞―◊―∞―≡―○―●―∞―

 

Grandma Pickle was the most tenacious merchant Sora had ever met. “Lindblum pickles are a local delicacy! Try one! You’re a budding gourmand, yes? C’mon, I can see it in your eyes. Try a pickle.”

If being a hungry teenage boy qualified Sora as a ‘budding gourmand,’ so be it. He sniffed the cart of pickles again, hoping maybe he’d smell something other than sweaty gym socks. “Uhh…okay, I can’t deny I’m curious. How much for one?”

“Good man, good man. They taste better than they smell, I promise,” Grandma Pickle said. “That’ll be ten gil.”

Sora handed her the gil (similar value to munny, unless the moogle in the Inn uptown was ripping him off). He grabbed one of the pickles and gave an experimental bite. _Holy shit._ “Wow, this is really good!”

“Told you,” Grandma Pickle said with a knowing smile. “Come back for more if you’re still hungry.”

Riku took Sora’s hand as they walked off towards the airbus station, threading their fingers together. “Where to next?” he asked.

“Well, we’ve done the Industrial District,” Sora said, “but I could totally go back for more Soup de Silence.”

“Your breath would probably smell better,” Riku quipped.

Sora breathed heavily on him for emphasis and laughed as Riku pretended to faint from the stench.

“I can’t believe you kiss me with that mouth,” Riku said. “Okay, scratch the Industrial District. Let’s go find you some breath mints. And a toothbrush.”

“Okay something’s bothering you,” Sora said, stopping to turn and face Riku. “What is it?”

Riku raised his eyebrows. “Something’s bothering _me_? You mean like your bad breath?”

“No, since we left the castle you’ve been all…oh… _oh_ ,” Sora said, putting on his best shit-eating grin. “You’re _jealous_.”

Riku blanched. “Jealous of _who_!?”

“First, it’s ‘whom,’ second, the whole time between Eiko finding us and talking to the regent, you were scowling and huffing and…” Sora paused and rubbed bread crumbs off his chin. “Anyway, I realized it a second ago! Eiko was making you _jealous._ ”

“Okay, we’ve established I have a bit of a jealous streak. I _freely_ admit Eiko was annoying me. Sorry,” Riku said. “I mean…did it…bother you…?”

“Nah. I don’t think Eiko would’ve let up even if I said ‘hey, Kairi’s not my girlfriend, because _Riku_ is my _boyfriend,_ so a little jealousy…was justified,” Sora decided, squeezing his hand.

Indecision flashed in Riku’s eyes, before he leaned down and gave Sora a quick, closed-mouth kiss. “I love you. But your breath still stinks.”

“So I hear,” Sora said with a wink. “But I wanted to let you know…because…if we _did_ find me a toothbrush, hypothetically, we’ve still got a good two hours before Kairi and Lea get here…”

Thank god Riku got the hint. “Let’s get out of here.”

 

―∞―●―○―≡―∞―◊―∞―≡―○―●―∞―

 

 _This girl is really…something,_ Kairi thought as Eiko dragged her by the wrist across the upper level of Lindblum Castle, Lea electing to stay behind to talk with the ‘adults.’ _Lucky him._ “I finally get to meet Sora’s GIRLFRIEND!”

Kairi snorted, and thankfully, it came out more amused than annoyed. “I’m not Sora’s girlfriend.”

“Oh, really? Sora is so sweet and brave, but he’s as dense as a rock. How can he not see my tender feelings for him?” Eiko mused, completely out of hand.

 _Ummmm._ “Did you say something?”

“Nope!” Eiko said. “How did you like Alexandria?”

Kairi was at a loss. _Maybe I should just…let that go._ “We didn’t get to see much of it. Steiner yelled at us, Dagger yelled at him. I liked the airship, though.” She might’ve expanded on her review a bit, but she was still a little confused at Dagger’s explanation of the multiple Vivis.

“I like airships, too! And Steiner and Dagger are just like that,” Eiko said with a shrug as they passed an annoyed-looking moogle. “The guest room is right up these stairs – I saw Sora and Riku go in to take a nap. Hey, do you like pranks!? Because I have a bucket of pasta sauce _ripe_ for the pouring.”

 _A nap, huh? I kinda doubt that’s what they’re up to._ “…Why don’t you let me make sure they’re asleep first?” Kairi suggested. “It’d be pretty silly to walk in there with a bucket of pasta sauce if they’re both awake.”

Eiko squinted comically at her. _Oh god, she knows I’m lying._ “You just want to have all the fun to yourself! But FINE. I have to go get the bucket anyway. Oh, hey Mogki! What are you doing out here?”

“Just minding my own business, kupo,” Mogki said cryptically. Kairi understood.

“Well, toodles!” Eiko said, running off.

Kairi let out a sigh of relief. The last thing she needed was to be responsible for a nine-year-old seeing her best friends making out. She, for one, had seen it _more_ than enough times, and was beyond ready for their honeymoon phase to end (although part of her knew it never would).

“Hey, guys! HEY, GUYS!” Kairi said, clapping her hands as she walked upstairs into the guest room. Best practice, she had discovered, was to make as much noise as possible during any entrance. She’d be less likely to see things she didn’t want to see.

A telltale _smack_ proved her intuition right, and Kairi crossed her arms when she found them in a tangle of limbs. “Really!? I could’ve been someone _important_ , you know.”

“You _are_ important, though,” Sora said from under Riku’s arm.

“Up! We’ve got a Heartless to defeat!” Kairi said, grabbing Riku’s other arm. “You guys can make out later.”

“Oh, we will~” Sora said as Riku gave him that _I’m-going-to-absolutely-ravish-you-later_ look.

“Not in front of my salad!!” Kairi snapped.

Singing from the floor below alerted them to Eiko’s presence, and Kairi shook her head in defeat. _I love these boys, but I put up with so much. I really do._

 

―∞―●―○―≡―∞―◊―∞―≡―○―●―∞―

 

The Hilda Garde 6 was, as the regent promised, very, _very_ fast. Sora had flown through hyperspace countless times, but he couldn’t help but be amazed by how quickly the ground moved below them as the airship flew south (north? Geography was weird on this world).

However, all good things must come to an end, and as such, the airship reached its destination: a small, nondescript island that Sora imagined home might look like if it wasn’t in a tropical climate. As the four keyblade wielders and Queen Garnet disembarked, they were swamped by a mog of moogles.

“Go help, kupo!”

“Kupoppo!! It’s a disaster, kupo!”

A bandana’d moogle that turned out to be Stiltzkin flew his way to the front of the group. “Thanks for coming, Sora. I thought it was Artemicion, but it turned out to be a Heartless. We’re not used to fighting them here, kupo…”

Sora nodded. “Don’t worry—”

“Don’t worry, the hit squad is here,” Lea interrupted, pushing through to the entrance. “Let’s go, guys!” As much as Sora wanted to talk to the moogles, the Heartless was a more pressing matter, so he followed his friends into the fray.

Sora didn’t know what he expected Mognet Central to look like. Maybe something like Ansem the Wise’s computer banks? But instead, as Lea blasted down the door, they were greeted by a fairly normal-looking post office, other than the big geared machine upstairs.

Well, that and battle three warriors were waging against the giant Heartless intent on trashing the place. Sora had no doubt the blond guy with the tail, the rat-woman, and the huge-armed dude were powerful combatants – they’d held off the Heartless for hours already.

“Dagger!?” the monkey-tailed guy said, barely managing to dodge a swipe to the face. “What the heck are you doing here!?”

The queen (Dagger, Sora supposed) cast a powerful healing magic over the whole group, and the monkey-tailed guy gave her a grateful thumbs-up. “I’m here to _help_ you, Zidane!”

“Hmph,” the rat-woman said, leaping into the air to rain magic arrows on the Heartless. _Wow, I wish I could do that._ “Didn’t think we could handle it on our own?”

“Yeah, we were doing just fine,” Zidane added.

“You never would’ve beaten this monster on your own,” Riku added, materializing Braveheart. “Kairi, go for the legs. Lea, keep it away from the others. Sora, with me.”

“Yeah!” Sora said, adrenaline boosting his already-fond feelings for his boyfriend.

Lea complained briefly about being put on defense (“Lea, you’re the FIRE GUY and this is a POST OFFICE”), and Zidane turned into something resembling Sora’s monster form to distract the Heartless. Regardless, between the five of them and Dagger’s well-timed healing, they made quick work of the beast.

“Phew!” Sora said when it was over, rubbing sweat off his brow. “That wasn’t so bad.”

“Their mail-sorting machine has seen better days, though…” Kairi said, walking up to the geared machine. It didn’t _look_ wrecked to Sora, but he supposed if the gears weren’t moving, something had to be wrong.

Riku wiped some Heartless-related debris off his boots before walking over to Sora and slinging an arm over his shoulders. “And where there’s one Heartless, there’s more. I think we should keep an eye on this world going forward, just to be safe.”

Sora was almost surprised Riku would mention their greater mission so _casually_ , but it wasn’t like these people (and moogles) hadn’t seen worse. “Yeah. Now, how do we get the machine back online? Oh! Remember the mysterious note? I wonder what Stiltzkin meant by ‘Artemecion did it again…’”

The entrance opened up again, and several of the moogles from outside flew in. “I _mean_ he used all of the machine oil on him _self_!” Stiltzkin said, dragging a purple moogle by the arm. “Mognet Central won’t be able to go back online without some more!”

“I’m sorry, kupo…” Artemicion said, wiping his moogle eyes. “It just made my fur so soft, kupo…”

“You need therapy, kupo,” one of the other moogles added, shaking her head.

“What kind of machine oil?” Kairi asked.

“Eh, it doesn’t need machine oil,” Zidane said. “We used Ruby’s hair gel last time, right, Dagger?”

“Hair gel…?” Sora mused. Riku and Lea evidently had the same thought, because within moments, all three of them had taken their emergency styling products out of their pockets.

Stiltzkin looked up at them with a grin. “I _knew_ it was a good idea to ask you guys for help. Leave those with us and we’ll have our shops reopened in no time, kupo.”

“Finally,” Sora said, relieved that their mission was over. “Now can I _please_ buy some potions?”

**Author's Note:**

> I WILL upload day 5's prompt before the day is out, I swear to kupo.


End file.
